Talk:Suffragette

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[edit] "Suffragette" vs "Suffragist"

In Britain the suffragette and suffragist movements were separate, suffragettes being more militant than the suffragists (WSPU).




Philippa Taylor is a pure babe ;] —Preceding unsigned comment added by 194.242.148.75 (talk) 09:27, 5 June 2008 (UTC)








Author Rosalie Maggio in her terrific book The Bias-Free Word Finder: A Dictionary of Nondiscriminatory Language notes that women in Britian used the term "suffragette" while American women preferred "suffragist." People who wanted to denigrate the American woman's work used the "suffragette" label. I would hope that Wikipedia would use the more inclusive "suffragist" as the main listing and then refer readers to "suffragette" from that link. Jean Richards

Some time ago I added in that "suffragette" was coined because men who didnt want women to get the right to vote wished to make these suffragists seem petty and childish. It was later deleted in an edit. Was this information incorrect? Or was it accidentally removed? Edgecombe

I agree with your interpretation. Though I'm not sure why it your comment was removed, I see no problem with you putting it back into the article. Here's a quote:
The struggle for women's equality in Great Britain started long before the turn of the twentieth century. One of the very first "suffragettes" (the term coined as an insult by the London Daily Mail, but adopted easily by the female suffragists1) was Mary Smith, an unmarried property owner. In 1832 she quietly petitioned Parliament urging the inclusion of propertied women as those priveleged to vote for members of Parliament.[1]

BTW, Edgecombe: It has become customary around Wikipedia to enter new comments at the bottom of the talk page. By all means, go ahead and move this sequence there. Also, if you want to date your comment (a good idea) just add four tildes. Sunray 06:19, 2005 Mar 15 (UTC)

should the broken British Universities link perhaps link to List of British universities?

Excellent idea! I did it after seeing your suggestion -- next time, Be bold and make the change yourself! :-) Jwrosenzweig 23:46, 30 Mar 2004 (UTC)

i've just come here trying to find out the difference between suffragettes and suffragists; i'm sure a distinction exists, but am surprised to see it go unmentioned.

Here's what the Columbia Guide to Standard American English says of the difference:

"A suffragette historically was 'a woman advocating women’s right to vote'. A suffragist is 'anyone, male or female, who advocates the extension of the right to vote to all, but particularly to women'. Some people objected to suffragette originally because it began as a derisive term, but the more important objection was and is that it is narrow in scope, since it can be applied only to women and not to all who might support the same political view. Suffragette is now archaic in the United States, both for those reasons and because women now have the vote. But in some countries the issue is very much alive, and Americans will find suffragist the more generic term to use in discussing the issue. http://www.bartleby.com/68/27/5827.html

I think that some of the articles in Wikipedia could be edited with this definition in mind. Sunray 02:34, 2004 Apr 17 (UTC)

In terms of women's suffrage in Britain, suffragettes took violent action to publicise and further their cause, while suffragists were only in favour of non-violent action. This is an important distinction. I hope to get a chance to have a crack at re-writing.
- Katherine Shaw 14:28, Sep 16, 2004 (UTC)

[edit] Window smashing

Would someone please write here about window smashing and arson? I've found that that an a9.com search for "window smashing" suffragette gets good results if you click on the "book results". Everyone loves suffragettes but very few people knew they were so non-compliant as to break windows! Contemporary window smashers could sure be seen in a more historically honest light if more people knew about window smashing suffragettes. So please, would someone do a write up?

I've added "window-smashing" to the article based on a couple of accounts I found. However, I didn't turn up much on the strategy behind window-smashing. I assume it was to: a) show outrage and defiance, b) make noise, c) do minor property damage, and thus, d) draw attention to the cause. Please go ahead and add details to the article. Sunray 03:51, 2005 Mar 10 (UTC)

the window smashing was as part of the sufferagettes' campaign of property damage, whuich was done in the hope of drawing attention to their cause.--Sstabeler July 4, 2005 19:06 (UTC)

[edit] vandalism

i noticed that this article had been vandalised,i dare not copy and paste what was said, and so i reverted to what seemed the last good revision. i thought it would be best to tell everyone why i reverted. sorry, i forgot to sign---Sstabeler July 4, 2005 20:11 (UTC)

[edit] Second section

"Suffragettes carried out such minor offences as chaining themselves to railings, setting fire to the contents of mailboxes and window-smashing." The first is a very minor offence, and the last is petty vandalism...however, the second is actually illegal in Britain and I'm sure it's not just a minor offence. This is from scotsman.com, too: "In Britain from 1905 until 1914, the suffragettes mounted the most substantial acts of political violence that this country had ever seen. Most people will only think of the harm the women famously reported on themselves; they are often represented as gentle Edwardian ladies who hurt their own bodies as political protest, but did not transgress any other lines. Yet Christabel Pankhurst physically attacked men; Mary Leigh climbed roofs, brandishing hatchets and hurling tiles; they burned down pavilions and railway stations and threw weapons into the prime minister’s carriage. Post boxes were filled with kerosene and acid then set alight, telephone wires were cut between London and Glasgow, bombs were set off. In one six-week period, there were 43 cases of suffragette arson, including the destruction of three Scottish castles." (from http://leisure.scotsman.com/outdoors/justphenomenal_specific.cfm?articleid=1438) I don't know if it's really fair to say that the Suffragettes' actions were always "minor". --Dandelions 10:26, 5 September 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Picture

Please note that I have removed the picture, as it is irrelevant to the title. Suffragette actually only refered to members of the Women's Social and Political Union. I am currently working on a history of female suffrage in the UK and I may chage this page further as I progress. 1955 GMT 26/09/05 Levi_allemany

I disagree, a Suggragette would be one intending on moving towards suffrage, which is not unique to members of the Women's Social and Political Union. To this end I have reverted the picture. Mallocks 18:57, 26 September 2005 (UTC)

Firstly I do not wish to cause argument, and I am sorry if I have caused upset. Secondly, I am not a novice to the subject. I have studied an A level in it last year, and I recieved full marks on the exam, a particularly hard feat on a history paper. The main reason why I question the use of the picture is because of the complaint caused by the misuse of the term 'Suffragette' at the time of the campain. All organisations apart from the WSPU in the UK were under a larger umbrella group known as the NUWSS (National Union for Womens' Suffrage Societies), which was actually far bigger than the WSPU.

They called themselves 'suffragists' rather than suffragettes in order to disassociate themselves with the violent acts that the vast majority of them disagreed with. The NUWSS complained bitterly that the work of the suffragettes slowed the campain which they had been building for 40 years. They believed that the suffragettes did not demonstrate actions contrary to the emotional, irrational steiotype of the age.

I call for a change to this picture primarily because the woman pictured would have almost certainly disputed the term 'suffragette' prefering it for 'suffragist'. I propose that the picture is relaced with one of a member or members or the WSPU, in order to define the term as one for violent protestors, which it is now historically used as.

2014 GMT 26/09/05 Levi_allemany

However the article as written *at present* provides enough support for that picture in my opinion. I will not question you on an area of relative expertise, I merely go on the information available to me at the time. Were the page as it stands more similar to the facts that you lay out, I would agree with the removal of the picture, as it stands I cannot. Mallocks 19:18, 26 September 2005 (UTC)

Point noted. Although I do not have time now, I shall rewrite the article soon. Also, this page has become somewhat of a history of the Votes for Women Campain in the UK. I am presently preparing to write a page on this, and so I will edit this page primarily to define suffragette. With a good page on the WSPU, it will not need to be so large, as the WSPU page will describe most events and the such, this page dealing primarily with the etymology of the term.

Sorry I I caused upset, it is a very common error to confuse suffragists and suffragettes, indeed one I myself made before studying the subject in depth. Levi_allemany 2030, 26/09/05 GMT

Thank you for this small lesson in the difference between a suffragette and suffragist, and their history, I appreciate it, and hope that some of it makes it into the relevant articles.68.147.13.95 05:05, 3 December 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Cite?

Today, the term suffragette is considered to be diminutive and disrespectful. Suffragist is the preferred term.

This is incorrect.

[edit] Hunger strike

What is "garageroot"? Google turns up no hits. Amcfreely 07:01, 9 February 2006 (UTC)

I've never heard of it, and added to the use of the emotive word "horrible" in the same context, and the fact that the sentence is a specific example not belonging in an overview, I suspect it is a hoax and have removed it until someone can provide evidence. BrainyBabe 17:31, 15 February 2006 (UTC)


[edit] Confusion

I've read through this sentence several times, and am still confused about it. Does the list describe conditions which must ALL be met, or would any one of the conditions suffice for suffrage? "Political movement towards women's suffrage began during the war and in 1918, the Parliament of the United Kingdom passed an act granting the vote to: women over the age of 30 who were householders, the wives of householders, occupiers of property with an annual rent of £5, and graduates of British universities. " Popher 21:53, 5 June 2006 (UTC)

      • As studying this is history, can perhaps explain what I understand to be the truth now. The 1918 Representation of the People act gave the vote to women who owned a house, married to someone who owned a house, or paid an annual rent of £5 or more.: 21:33, 22 June 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Suffragists/Suffragettes and UK/US

There is too much history regarding women's suffrage for it all to be contained in one article. There could be a general article Womens Suffrage movement but there would have to be short sections on the movements in all the different countries.

Then pages on the WSPU founded in 1903 and led by Emmeline, Sylvia and Christabel Pankhurst, who later become called 'suffragettes' by the Daily Mail as this was a degoratory term and the suffragists or constitutionlists who were peaceful and led by Millicent Fawcett. Her organization was the NUWSS which was founded in 1898 and the Pankhursts belonged to this at first.

What is also necessary is pages on all the other movements which I do not know anything about. 82.35.184.195 10:07, 7 June 2006 (UTC)Artemisia82.35.184.195 10:07, 7 June 2006 (UTC)


I'll do some work on this when I have the time. I think that suffragists and suffragettes need different articles - by around 1912 the two groups had completely separated. Is this possible? Srxcef 21:37, 11 September 2006 (UTC)

From what I understand, Suffragette was a term used exclusively for members of the British WSPU. So the picture and much of the text really should be edited to reflect this. Members of the non-violent NUWSS were 'suffragists' - as were American campaigners, it seems. This article could perhaps be redirected to WSPU, and a note be left there explaining the differences between suffragettes and suffragists of various countries (as with suffragist). poorsod 15:02, 2 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] "Removed redlinks"

I disagree with the removal of the red links, on principle: don't red links indicate a subject that merits the creation of a new WP article, thus encouraging other users to add material to the linked page (if they know something about the subject)? They're valid contributions -- not "dead" links that need to be deleted, but links to articles that have yet to be written. Should we revert these deletions? Let me know your thoughts. --Smobri 15:05, 11 May 2007 (UTC)

In principle, I agree; but "Uda B. Ahoe" appears to be vandalism. There are no Google hits for it (other than Wikipedia!) and if you pronounce it phonetically it sounds like a prank. The other two seem valid, although I am not personally familiar with them. My argument against including red links here is because they are in a "See also" section. This refers the reader to "see" an article that does not exist. Seems like a dead end instead of soliciting someone to write a new article. --Jeremy Butler 23:19, 11 May 2007 (UTC)
Fair enough! I take your point.  :-) Best, --Smobri 13:16, 14 May 2007 (UTC)